---
title: removeMetadata
svgo:
  pluginId: removeMetadata
  defaultPlugin: true
---

Removes the [`<metadata>`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/SVG/Element/metadata) element from the document.

Metadata doesn't effect rendering. From an optimization perspective, these can always be safely removed.

There may be cases you'd want to disable this plugin, as some SVGs include copyright and licensing information in the metadata. In particular, documents that reference the [Creative Commons](http://creativecommons.org/ns#) namespace.

:::info

You can learn more about referencing copyright and licensing on the [SVG Tiny 1.2 specifications](https://www.w3.org/TR/SVGTiny12/metadata.html#metadataElementExample), or by reading [The Creative Commons Rights Expression Language](https://opensource.creativecommons.org/ccrel/).

:::
